France

Shuji Terayama adapted his 1981 film, The Fruits of Passion, from the eponymous Pauline Reage’s sequel to her well regarded book, The Story of O. However, ‘adapted’ is used very loosely in this instance, as Terayama uses the opportunity to completely reshape the structure of the novel, and use only it’s themes and characters to create a story that is uniquely his. According to the credits, the text of the narration and O’s dialogue itself was taken directly from the short novel, but everything else is pure Terayama.Read More »

Synopsis:
Charles is a young provincial coming up to Paris to study law. He shares his cousin Paul’s flat. Paul is a kind of decadent boy, a disillusioned pleasure-seeker, always dragging along with other idles, while Charles is a plodding, naive and honest man. He fell in love with Florence, one of Paul’s acquaintances. But how will Paul react to that attempt to build a real love relationship ? One of the major New Wave films.Read More »

Plot: Sébastien Fischer (Rüdiger Vogler), a celebrated pianist, takes the advice of his agent and friend Gorgio and decides to take a break and spend some time in a little village in Provence, at the house of Avril Espart (Micheline Presle).Read More »

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Varda films and interviews gleaners in France in all forms, from those picking fields after the harvest to those scouring the dumpsters of Paris.Read More »

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Four chapters based on the birth of a ‘secret child’, or a film, with chapter titles: “La séction Césarienne” (Caesarian section: a descriptive detail introducing the mother); “Le dernier guerrier” (the last warrior: how the father sees himself); “Le cercle ophydique” (the serpent’s closed circle: the couple reunites at the psychiatric ward); “Les forêts désenchantées” (unfairy forests: the film in the making).Read More »

Synopsis:
A million miles away from ‘Camelot’ or ‘Excalibur’, this film ruthlessly strips the Arthurian legend down to its barest essentials. Arthur’s knights, far from being heroic, are conniving and greedy men who, just before the film starts, have failed miserably to find the Holy Grail. Aimlessly resentful at first, the developing relationship between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere focuses their rage, leading to inevitable tragedy…Read More »

Synopsis:
Con artists Victor (Michel Serrault) and Betty (Isabelle Huppert) are a perfect team when it comes to cheating gamblers out of their winnings. But Betty, who’s a master of the art of seduction, has a bigger scheme in mind: double-crossing bagman Maurice Biagini (François Cluzet) out of millions of Swiss francs that belong to organized crime. While it sounds like an airtight plan, Victor — no fool when it comes to matters of deception — suspects a double cross.Read More »

A young woman of privilege compensates a familial spiritual emptiness with her love of Christ. When she consumes herself too zealously, she is kicked out of the convent, being told that she’ll find her freedom in the world… Her thirst of absolute, her inclination for sacrifice and for a meaning to her life guides her to the “right person” who turns her aspirations into action…Read More »

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Labeled in the credits as a “vaudeville filme” [sorry, can’t get the accent mark on the filme], Le coq du regiment (dir. Maurice Cammage) was filmed at the Courbevoie studio near Paris, using the Photo-Sonor technology developed by French radio. The film could also be described as a comique troupier, a comedy film about military life, a popular French film genre of the 1930s. Le coq du regiment features the comic actor Fernandel, as does another military comedy of the period, Pathe Natan’s Les gaites de l’escadron (dir. Maurice Tourneur, 1932). Le coq du regiment also features stage-trained actors performing a script adapted from the stage, and direct-recorded sound. Read More »